^ .  'i~o.'o 


^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


N^  -     ^-   -^. 


Presented    bJT^ro-  7S~S  .  Vi^  C^r^\  <2j  .  d  ,^ • 


Division 
Section 


/^vj/v! 


CHUECH   AND   CEEED. 

Church  and  creed  were  born  together.  The  creed  is  essen- 
tially a  confession  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Messiah  and 
Saviour  of  men.  Peter  may  be  said  to  have  uttered  the  first 
Christian  creed  when  he  said:  " Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  son  of 
the  living  God."*  On  this  account  he  was  named  by  the 
Messiah  the  Eock  of  the  Church.  The  first  confessor  was  given 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  creed  was  at  first  that 
confession  of  faith  in  the  Messiah  which  was  necessary  to  Chris- 
tian baptism  and  to  participation  in  the  supper  of  the  Lord  in 
the  Church.  The  apostolic  commission,  "  Go  ye  therefore  and 
make  disciples  of  all  the  nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  name  »• 

of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  gave  the         :^ 
outline  of  the  Trinitarian  creed :     "  I  believe  in  the  Father  and  ^'' 

the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit." 

So  soon  as  the  Church  was  organized   and   provision  was  ^ 

made  for  the  training  of  converts  in  preparation  for  the  sacra- 
ments, this  simple  outline  of  the  creed  was  enlarged,  so  as  to 
embrace  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion  as  con- 
ceived by  the  ancient  Church.  This  enlargement  of  the  creed 
was  made  independently  in  the  different  churches  established  in 
the  provinces  and  cities  of  the  Eoman  Empire ;  but  gradually  a 
consensus  was  attained,  such  as  we  find  in  the  so-called  Apostles' 
Creed  and  in  the  Nicene  Creed,  the  latter  differing  from  the 
former  chiefly  in  that  it  was  enlarged  by  the  Council  of  Nice  in 
825  A.D.  so  as  to  exclude  the  Arians  from  the  Church.  We 
have  to  distinguish,  in  the  Apostles'  Creed,  between  the  older 
form,  in  which  there  was  a  consensus,  and  the  later  additions  to 
it;  just  as  we  have  to  distinguish  between  the  original  Nicene 
Creed  of  325  and  the  Constantinopolitan  Creed  of  381  with  the 
western  additions.  We  shall  arrange  these  in  parallel  columns, 
giving  the  later  additions  in'  brackets,  but   not  attempting  to 

*Matt.  xvi.,16. 


368 


CHURCH  AND  CREED. 


restore  to  their  original  form  the  clauses  that  have  been  trans- 
posed.    The  parentheses  show  the  Latin  additions* 


AjJOstles'  Creed. 
I  believe  in  God  the  Father  Al- 
mighty [maker  of  heaven  and 
earth.] 

And  in   Jesus   Ciirist,  his  only 
Son,  our  Lord  ; 


Wlio  \vas  [conceived]  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  born  of  tlie  Vir- 
gin Mary  ; 


[Suffered]  under  Pontius  Pilate, 
was  crucified,  [dead],  and  bur- 
ied ; 

[He  descended  into  hades];  the 
third  day  he  rose  again  from 
the  dead ; 

He  ascended  into  heaven,  and 
sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of 
[God]  the  Father  [Almighty]; 

From  thence  he  shall  come  to 
judge  the  quick  and  the  dead. 


Nieene  Creed. 

We  (I)  believe  in  one  God  the 
Father  Almighty,  maker  [of 
heaven  and  earth,  and]  of  all 
things  visible  and  invisible. 

And  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  [only  begotten]  Son  of 
God,  begotten  of  the  Father 
[before  all  worlds ;]  (God  of 
God),  Light  of  Light,  Very 
Godof  Very  God,  begotten,  not 
made,  being  of  one  substance 
with  the  Father  ;  by  whom  all 
things  were  made  ;  (both  in 
heaven  and  on  earth). 

Who,  for  us  men,  and  for  our 
salvation,  came  down  [from 
heaven],  and  was  incarnate  [by 
the  Holy  Ghost  of  the  Virgin 
Mar}']  and  was  made  man  ; 

He  [was  crucified  for  us  vuider 
Pontius  Pilate  ;  and]  suffered, 
[and  was  buried  :] 

And  the  third  day  he  rose  again 
[according  to  the  Scriptures] 


And    [I    believe] 
Ghost. 


The  holy  [catholic]  Ciiurch  ;  [the 
communion  of  saints]; 


.  [And]  ascended  into  heaven  [and 
sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of 
the  Father.] 

.  From  thence  he  shall  come 
[again, with  glory]  to  jud^e  the 
quick  and  the  dead  ;  [whose 
kingdom  shall  have  no  end.] 
in  the  Holy  8.  And  (I  believe)  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  [the  Lord  and  Giver  of 
Life,  who  proceedeth  from  the 
Father  (and  the  Son ;)  who 
with  the  Father  and  the  Son 
together  is  worshiped  and 
glorified ;  who  spake  by  the 
prophets.] 
[9.  (And  I  believe)  in  one  holy  cath- 
olic and  apostolic  church.] 


*  See  Schaff's  "Creeds  of  Clu-istendom,"  jip.  13  et  seq. 


CHURCH  AND  CREED.  369 

Apostles'  Creed.  Nicene  Creed. 

10.  The  forgiveness  of  sins  ;  [10.  We  (1)  acknowledge  one  baptism 

for  the  remission  of  sins.] 

11.  The    resurrection  of    tlie    body      [11.  And  we  (I)  look  forthe  resurrec- 

[fleshj ;  tion  of  the  dead  ;] 

[12.  And  the  life  everlasting.]  [13.  And  the  life  of   the  world  to 

come.] 

The  damnatory  clauses  of  the  Nicene  Creed  I  liave  not  given. 
They  ought  never  to  have  been  used  with  the  creed.  They  may 
be  appropriate  as  the  judgment  of  the  council,  but  they  are  not 
proper  in  public  worship. 

These  two  primitive  creeds  have  been  talien  into  the  liturgies 
of  the  Christian  Church  and  are  a  part  of  the  public  v;orship  of 
Christendom.  The  House  of  Bishops  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church  in  the  United  States  and  the  Lambeth  conference 
of  the  Bishops  of  the  Church  of  England  and  her  daughters  did 
wisely  when,  in  their  plan  for  the  reunion  of  Christendom,  they 
proposed  these  two  liturgical  creeds — "  the  Apostles'  Creed  as 
the  baptismal  symbol,  and  the  Nicene  Creed  as  the  sufficient 
statement  of  the  Christian  faith."  It  should  be  the  aim  of  all 
Christians  to  rally  about  this  position  as  the  essential  doctrinal 
basis  of  Christendom.  I  take  no  exception  to  any  statements  of 
these  two  creeds.  Some  of  the  later  additions  seem  to  me  to  ex- 
press important  doctrines.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  my  opinion 
that,  if  we  could  reduce  these  two  creeds  to  their  primitive  form 
by  striking  out  all  the  bracketed  clauses,  many  minds  would  be 
relieved  of  difficulties  in  subscription  and  nothing  essential  to 
Christianity  would  be  lost.  They  would  still  give  "  the  suffi- 
cient statement  of  the  Christian  faith."  These  two  creeds  are 
suited  to  public  worship  in  form  and  in  substance.  Their  lan- 
guage is  chaste  and  beautiful,  they  are  devotional  and  easily 
become  choral.  The  Christian  world,  with  very  few  exceptions, 
heartily  unite  in  them,  and  in  their  one  harmonious  faith  realize 
the  blessedness  of  "  the  communion  of  saints."  The  later  creeds 
of  the  Church  express  division  and  schism.  They  set  forth  doc- 
trinal variations  which  are  of  great  imj)ortance  in  the  science  of 
theology,  but  which  are  not  essential  to  Christian  faith  and  life. 
The  Creed  of  Chalccdon  and  the  ]^seudo-Athanasian  Creed  are 
accepted  by  the  great  body  of  orthodox  men  in  the  Christian 
26 


370  CHURCH  AND  CREED. 

Church,  but  both  of  them  have  been  severely  criticised  by  de- 
vout and  honored  theologians.  What  they  have  added  to  the  two 
ancient  creeds  has  not  tended  to  the  harmony  of  Christendom. 

The  Church  of  Christ  for  1,500  years  lived  and  grew  and 
accomplished  its  greatest  triumphs,  destroying  the  ancient  re- 
ligions, transforming  the  Greek,  Eoman,  and  oriental  civiliza- 
tions, winning  the  Celtic,  Germanic,  and  Slavonic  races  to  Christ, 
without  any  other  creeds  than  these.  But  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury the  throes  of  liberty  and  reformation  divided  the  Church, 
and  large  numbers  of  creeds,  catechisms,  and  confessions  of  faith 
were  framed  in  order  to  define  the  differences  and  to  emphasize 
the  discord  of  Christendom.  The  Greek  Church  produced  a 
number  of  confessions  and  catechisms  to  vindicate  its  orthodoxy 
over  against  Rome  and  Wittenberg.  The  Protestant  churches 
set  forth  their  faith  in  the  Augsburg  Confession  and  in  national 
symbols.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  defined  the  orthodox 
faith  in  the  canons  and  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  All 
variations  of  Protestantism  also  found  expression  in  confessions 
of  faith  and  in  catechisms  of  various  kinds.  These  modern  sym- 
bolical documents  differ  greatly  in  form  and  character  from  the 
ancient  creeds.  1.  They  are  not  so  much  creeds,  expressing  the 
real  faith  of  the  people  of  God,  as  systems  of  orthodox  doctrine, 
to  be  taught  by  theologians.  2.  They  are  not  designed  for  the 
worship  of  the  people  and  are  therefore  not  in  the  liturgical 
form.  They  are  for  instruction  in  the  class  room;  catechisms 
for  children;  larger  catechisms  for  adults  and  confessions  of 
faith  for  the  ministry.  3.  They  do  not  set  forth  in  plain  terms 
the  essential  doctrines  of  Christianity,  but  in  learned  language 
they  give  a  complete  exposition  of  Christian  doctrine  or  else  a 
full  statement  of  certain  particular  doctrines  with  regard  to  which 
there  have  been  division  and  debate. 

If  it  was  necessary  to  organize  the  various  Protestant  national 
churches  of  northern  Europe,  it  was  also  necessary  that  these 
churches  should  define  their  faith  in  symbolical  books.  This 
made  it  necessary  also  for  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  define 
its  position  at  the  Council  of  Trent.  So  also  when  the  non-con- 
forming churches  separated  from  the  national  churches  there 
was  the  same  historic  necessity  for  additional  symbols  of  faith. 


L 


CHURCH  AND  CREED.  371 

These  symbolic  books  were  designed  for  the  most  part  as  public 
expressions  of  the  faith  of  the  national  churches  or  of  the  denomi- 
nations using  them.  They  were  not  ordinarily  intended  to  bind 
the  consciences  of  the  people  or  even  to  compel  the  ministry  to 
blind  subscription  to  all  their  dogmatic  statements.  Subscrip- 
tion to  creeds  was  forced  on  the  ministry  of  the  British  churches 
by  the  authority  of  the  state  in  the  interests  of  civil  order.  It 
was  not  a  natural  evolution  of  Protestantism  itself.  It  was 
rather  an  unwholesome  check  to  the  development  of  Protestant- 
ism, its  doctrine  and  life.  The  symbolic  books  of  Protestantism 
culminated,  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  in  the  Lutheran  Form 
of  Concord  and  in  the  Eeformed  Canons  of  Dort.  The  Form  of 
Concord  became  a  form  of  discord  in  the  Lutheran  churches. 
Dr.  Schaff  has  well  said : 

"During-  the  palmy  period  of  Lutheran  scholasticism,  ilie  Formula  of 
Concord  stood  in  high  authority  among-  Lutherans,  and  was  even  regarded 
as  inspired.  Its  first  centennial  [1680]  was  celebrated  with  considerable 
enthusiasm.    But  at  the  close  of  another  century  it  was  dead  and  buried."* 

The  Canons  of  Dort  excluded  Arminianism  from  the  re- 
formed churches,  and  made  a  division  which  has  continued  until 
the  present  time.     Dr.  Schaff  says : 

"  The  Canons  of  Dort  have  for  Calvinism  the  same  significance  which 
the  Formula  of  Concord  has  for  Lutheranism;  both  betray  a  very  high 
order  of  theological  ability  and  care.  Both  are  consistent  and  necessary 
developments.  Both  exerted  a  powerful  and  conserving  influence  in  these 
churches.  Both  prepared  the  way  for  a  dry  scholasticism  which  runs  into 
subtle  abstractions,  and  resolves  the  living  soul  of  divinity  into  a  skeleton 
of  formulas  and  distinctions.  Both  consolidated  orthodoxy  at  the  expense 
of  freedom,  sanctioned  a  narrow  confessionalism,  and  widened  the  breach 
between  the  two  branches  of  the  Reformation."  f 

The  Westminster  Confession  was  later  than  the  two  scholastic 
symbols  just  mentioned.  It  was  the  fruit  of  the  second  Kefor- 
mation  in  Great  Britian,  and  as  such  full  of  life  and  vigor  and 
thereby  less  scholastic  than  the  Form  of  Concord  and  the  Can- 
ons of  Dort.  But  in  some  respects  it  is  having  a  history  similar 
to  that  of  these  two  older  symbols.     As  I  have  elsewhere  said  : 

"It  was  a  splendid  plan  to  unite  all  parties  in  the  three  national 
churclies  of  Great  Britain  about  common  symbols.     But,  unfortunately, 

*  "  Creeds  of  Christendom,"  p.  336.  f  Ibid.,  p.  515. 


373  CHURCH  AND  CREED. 

the  king  would  not  allow  the  Episcopal  divines  to  attend,  and  the  Assembly, 
with  tlio  Long  Parliament,  soon  expelled  the  Episcopal  partj'.  The  Pi-esby- 
terian  majority  was  intolerant  toward  the  Congregational  minority,  so  that, 
wliile  tlie  dissenting  brethren  struggled  heroically  for  their  views  in  the 
Assemblj',  the  hostility  of  the  Presbyterian  party  became  so  great  that 
John  Goodwin  and  Henry  Burton,  the  only  two  pastors  of  London  churches 
who  were  Independents,  were  deprived  of  their  charges.  And  so  the 
Westminster.  Symbols  became  the  banners  of  the  Presbyterian  party. 
What,  then,  do  we  see  at  the  present  time  ?  The  Westminster  Confession 
has  been  rejected  by  all  of  the  historical  churches  of  England.  It  is  held  only 
by  the  Presbyterian  church  of  England,  a  small  church  composed  chiefly 
of  Scottish  and  Irish  families  residing  in  England.  In  Ireland,  it  is  the 
symbol  only  of  the  Presbyterians  of  the  North.  It  is  a  national  creed  in 
Scotland  alone.  It  is  used  only  by  Presbyterians  in  America  and  the 
colonies.  Nine  tenths  of  the  Protestants  of  Great  Britain  and  America 
do  not  adhere  to  the  Westminster  Confession.  It  has  failed  in  its  design 
of  displacing  the  Thirty-nine  Articles.  It  has  not  become  the  one  creed  of 
Great  Britain.  This  is  the  verdict  of  history  on  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession," * 

The  movement  for  a  revision  of  the  Westminster  Symbols, 
now  in  progress  in  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  the  world,  will 
probably  eventually  result  in  casting  those  symbols  aside  as  bar- 
riers to  church  unity  and  as  no  longer  suitable  expressions  of  the 
faith  and  life  of  the  Church  in  our  day. 

Dogmatic  theology  is  in  a  state  of  dissolution  and  reconstruc- 
tion. The  dogmatic  theologians  have  elaborated  Protestant 
dogma  far  beyond  the  later  symbolical  books  of  Protestantism. 
Thinking  men  are  going  back  to  the  symbols  of  the  Eeformation, 
and  then  back  of  these  to  the  ecumenical  creeds,  and  then  still 
further  back  to  the  theology  of  the  Bible  itself.  The  theology 
of  the  Bible  was  sadly  neglected  by  the  scholastic  divines,  and 
it  has  found  no  adequate  expression  in  the  symbolical  books  of 
any  of  the  great  churches  of  Christendom.  They,  for  the  most 
part,  pursued  false  methods  of  exegesis.  They  knew  little  or 
nothing  of  Biblical  criticism.  The  lower  or  textual  criticism, 
the  higher  or  literary  criticism,  and  historical  criticism  are  sec- 
tions of  modern  scientific  study  of  the  Bible.  Criticism  has 
made  the  Bible  a  new  book.  And  the  discipline  of  Biblical 
theology  which  builds  on  the  results  of  criticism  finds  in  the 
Bible  a  new  theology — new  not  in  the  sense  that  it  destroys  any- 
*  '«  How  Shall  We  Revise?"  pp.  4-5. 


CHURCH  AND  CREED.  373 

thing  that  is  valuable  in  the  old  theology ;  but  that  on  the  one 
hand  it  is  simpler,  fresher,  full  of  life  and  energy,  quickening  and 
fascinating  people  as  well  as  preacher,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
more  comprehensive,  more  profound,  more  symmetrical  and 
harmonious.  It  is  sublime  and  indeed  divine,  because  it  brings 
us  face  to  face  with  holy  prophets  and  with  G-od  himself.  The 
old  scholastic  dogmatics,  in  which  the  most  of  the  ministry  now 
in  service  have  been  trained  and  which  they  have  been  taught  as 
the  rule  of  faith  by  which  to  interpret  Bible  and  history.  Christian 
experience  and  human  life,  is  now  confronted  by  a  Biblical  theol- 
ogy that  convicts  it  of  exaggeration  in  human  speculation,  of 
misinterpretation  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  of  ignorance  of  some 
of  the  most  important  facts  and  teachings  of  the  Scriptures. 
Biblical  theology  has  made  it  evident  that  the  dogmatic  systems 
have  obscured  the  Biblical  elements  with  the  ecclesiastical  and 
the  speculative,  and  have  thereby  too  often  made  the  word  of 
God  of  no  effect  by  their  traditions. 

Historical  theology  has  undermined  and  destroyed,  in  large 
measure,  ecclesiastical  claims  of  the  dogmaticians.  We  now 
know  well  the  history  of  doctrine  and  the  history  of  dogma. 
The  story  of  creed-formation  in  the  early  Church,  and  the  con- 
troversies resulting  in  the  construction  of  the  symbolical  books 
of  the  modern  churches  have  for  the  most  part  been  made  evi- 
dent by  the  historical  investigation  of  their  sources.  The  claims 
of  authority  that  were  strong  when  these  creeds  and  symbols 
were  enveloped  with  a  halo  of  mystery,  which  made  them  appear 
as  well-nigh  inspired,  can  no  longer  resist  the  evidence  of  human 
passions  and  strifes,  the  false  use  of  Scripture  and  history,  the 
improper  methods  of  argumentation,  the  errors  in  philosophy 
and  psychology  that  to  such  an  extent  influenced  the  authors  of 
the  creeds  in  their  doctrinal  definitions.  We  have  learned  to 
distinguish  (1)  Biblical  theology,  (2)  the  history  of  dogma,  (3) 
the  doctrine  of  the  creeds,  (4)  the  speculations  of  the  dogmatic 
theologians.  The  systems  now  in  use  in  the  United  States,  for 
the  most  part,  were  constructed  without  any  use  whatever  of  the 
more  fundamental  departments  of  theological  science,  and  yet 
in  childlike  simplicity  and  cool  dogmatism  it  is  assumed  that 
they  are  Biblical,  churchly,  and  confessional.     When  the  creeds 


374  CHURCH  AND  CREED. 

of  the  churches  are  tested  by  the  Bible  and  by  history,  they  do 
not  sustain  the  test  well  enough  to  resist  the  demands  for  re- 
vision and  for  new  and  simpler  creeds.  I  have  recently  shown 
that  the  churches  subscribing  to  the  Westminster  Confession 
have  widely  drifted  from  it  in  the  teaching  of  their  leading 
theologians  and  in  the  preaching  of  the  pulpits. 

"  The  Westminster  system  has  been  virtually  displaced  by  the  teachings 
of  the  dogmatic  divines.  It  is  no  longer  practically  the  standard  of  the 
faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The  catechisms  are  not  taught  in  our 
churches,  the  confessions  are  not  expounded  in  our  theological  seminaries. 
The  Prosbj'terian  Church  is  not  orthodox,  judged  by  its  own  standards. 
It  has  neither  the  old  orthodoxy  nor  the  new  orthodoxy.  It  is  drifting 
toward  an  unknown  and  a  mysterious  future."  * 

I  have  also  shown  in  another  place,  by  a  comparative  table  of 
the  Westminster  Confession  and  two  of  the  leading  dogmatic 
systems  of  recent  times,  that  the  proportions  of  the  faith  of  the 
Westminster  Confession  have  entirely  changed. 

"  New  doctrines  have  come  into  the  field,  old  doctrines  have  been  dis- 
carded ;  some  doctrines  have  been  depressed,  other  doctrines  have  been 
exalted.  The  systems  are  different  in  their  structure,  in  their  order  of 
material,  in  the  material  itself,  in  its  proportions,  and  in  the  structural 
principles.  The  essential  and  necessary  articles  of  about  one  half  of  the 
Westminster  system  are  in  these  systems,  but  the  other  half,  with  its 
essential  articles,  is  not  there."  f 

I  have  also  shown  from  a  table  of  all  the  proof  texts  of  the 
Westminster  Confession  that  667  texts  are  from  the  epistles  of 
Paul  and  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  and  only  248  from  the  Gos- 
pels and  247  from  the  other  writers  of  the  New  Testament. 

"Thus  the  Confession  is  built  on  the  words  of  Paul  rather  than  the 
words  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  It  is  Pauline  rather  than  comprehensively 
Christian."  X 

"There  are  so  many  omissions  of  important  doctrines  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, there  is  such  a  disproportionate  use  of  the  darker  and  gloomier  side 
of  the  Bible,  and  such  a  neglect  of  the  brighter  and  more  gracious  side,  and 
there  is  such  a  difference  between  the  Confession  and  the  preaching  of  the 
pulpit  and  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  our  homes,  that  something  more 
tlKin  revision  will  be  required  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  case,  and  we 
must  set  our  faces  toward  the  new  creed  as  the  only  adequate  solution  of 
the  difficulties  of  the  situation."  § 

♦"Whither?"  pp.  233-224  f  "  How  Shall  We  Revise  ?"  p.  11. 

Jlbid.,  p.  139.  §Ibid.,  pp.   181-3. 


CHURCH  AND  CREED.  3:5 

The  Westminster  Confession  having  already  been  displaced 
by  dogmatic  systems,  these  will  give  way  to  new  systems  con- 
structed on  more  scientific  principles  and  in  closer  harmony  with 
the  Bible  and  history.  Sach  systems  will  distinguish  between 
the  essential  and  the  non-essential  in  Christian  doctrine,  and  thus 
prepare  the  way  for  a  consensus  creed  expressing  the  essential 
doctrines  in  the  forms  suitable  for  public  worship,  reserving  the 
non-essential  doctrines  for  the  discussion  of  the  class  room,  the 
lecture,  the  treatise,  and  the  club. 

The  Church  of  England  and  her  daughters  no  longer  regard 
belief  in  the  entire  body  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  as  essential 
to  ministerial  work.  The  Methodists  have  reduced  these  arti- 
cles to  a  simpler  form  and  are  not  rigid  in  the  acceptance  of 
them.  The  Congregational  churches  no  longer  insist  upon  the 
Savoy  Declaration  or  the  Cambridge  Platform.  The  Baptist 
churches  have  no  common  confession  of  faith  that  binds  them, 
but  at  most  simple  congregational  creeds.  The  Protestant 
churches  of  the  Continent  have  for  the  most  part  laid  aside  the 
symbols  of  the  Reformation.  Where  this  has  not  been  formally 
done  by  official  action,  it  has  been  really  accomplished  by  com- 
mon consent.  There  is  a  general  tendency  throughout  Protes- 
tant Christendom  toward  simple  statements  of  faith  and  a  gen- 
eral acquiescence  in  the  old  ecumenical  creeds  as  sufficient  even 
for  our  times. 

There  have  been  great  advances  in  doctrine  and  in  dogma  in 
modern  theology.  The  dogmatic  divines  have  generally  laid 
more  stress  on  the  new  doctrines  than  on  the  old  ones.  A 
recent  study  of  the  Apostles'  Creed  in  comparison  with  several 
systems  of  dogmatic  theology  in  general  use  at  the  present  time 
showed  that  six  of  the  articles  of  the  creed  (1,  2,  3,  4,  11,  and 
12)  are  elaborated  in  more  or  less  fullness  in  the  dogmatic  sys- 
tems ;  that  six  of  them  (5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  and  10)  have  been  to  a 
great  extent  ignored,  and  that  there  are  six  doctrines,  not  in  the 
two  ancient  creeds,  to  which  the  two  representative  dogmatic  sys- 
tems of  Dr.  Charles  Hodge  and  Dr.  W.  G.  T.  Shedd  give  twice 
the  attention  that  they  have  given  to  the  12  articles  of  tlie  creed. 
These  doctrines  that  have  risen  into  so  great  importance  as  to 
suppress  the  ancient  catholic  doctrines  of  the  Church  are:  (1) 


376  CHURCH  AND  CREED. 

inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  (2)  the  divine  decree,  (3)  original 
sin,  {-i)  vicarious  atonement,  (5)  imputation  of  the  righteousness 
of  Christ,  (6)  everlasting  punishment.  This  group  of  doctrines 
is  just  where  the  Church  is  divided.  These  have  been  exagger- 
ated in  their  importance,  while  doctrines  in  which  there  is  con- 
cord are  passed  over  lightly  or  else  entirely  overlooked.  The 
tendency  of  American  dogmatic  speculation  has  been  in  one 
direction,  while  the  tendency  of  the  faith  of  the  home  and  the 
pulpit  has  been  in  another  direction;  so  that  a  crisis  has  been 
reached  and  a  break  has  come  between  a  so-called  conservative 
dogmatic  theology,  which  is  really  radical  in  its  elaboration  of 
speculative  dogma,  and  the  faith  and  life  of  the  Church,  which 
adheres  to  the  simpler  statements  of  the  Bible  and  to  the  ancient 
creeds. 

The  tendency  of  thought  in  the  present  century  has  been 
toward  the  person  and  work  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  urges  a  re- 
turn to  the  ancient  Christological  creeds.  The  life  of  Christ  has 
been  studied  as  never  before.  The  doctrine  of  the  incarnation 
has  again  become  prominent,  especially  in  the  Anglican  Church. 
More  attention  is  now  given  to  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection, 
enthronement,  and  second  advent  of  our  Lord.  This  tendency 
is  becoming  stronger  every  year ;  it  will  eventually  become  so 
powerful  that  all  modern  doctrines  will  be  Christologized,  and 
then  it  will  be  possible  to  put  them,  in  their  essential  contents, 
into  the  devotional  form,  and  to  introduce  them  into  the  liturgi- 
cal worship  of  the  Church. 

The  Reformation  did  not  go  on  to  its  completion.  It  came 
to  a  halt  too  soon.  It  over-emphasized  justification  and  neg- 
lected sanctification ;  it  exaggerated  faith  and  depreciated  holy 
love  and  good  works.  It  threw  away  purgatory  and  left  the 
middle  state  between  death  and  the  resurrection  a  blank.  It  is 
now  clear  to  the  historical  critic  that  there  is  one-sideness  in 
Protestantism  as  well  as  in  Roman  Catholicism ;  that  neither  of 
these  great  religious  bodies  is  to  conquer  the  other ;  and  that  a 
reconciliation  can  take  place  only  by  each  overcoming  its  own 
defects  and  becoming  more  comprehensively  Christian. 

Modern  critical  philosophy,  science  in  all  its  branches,  his- 
tory, and  the  critical  study  of  the  Bible  are  all  working  together 


CHURCH  AND  CREED.  377 

to  give  the  theologian  treasures  of  truth  unknown  to  former 
ages.  The  critical  study  of  the  Bible  makes  it  a  richer  and  a 
grander  book,  and  finds  mines  of  doctrines,  new  as  well  as  old. 
The  Church,  to  the  thoughtful  student  of  history,  becomes  sub- 
lime, notwithstanding  all  its  defects,  as  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  on 
earth.  The  reason,  in  the  researches  of  modern  science  and 
philosophy,  has  become  a  vastly  more  potent  factor  in  the  appre- 
hension and  in  the  comprehension  of  divine  truth.  There  is  a 
reconciliation  to  be  looked  for,  to  be  longed  for,  and  to  be  la- 
bored for,  in  the  future,  to  which  Churchman,  Rationalist,  and 
Evangelical  may  each  contribute.  We  may  reasonably  expect 
that  the  theological  conflicts,  the  dissolutions  of  old  theology, 
the  reconstruction  of  new  theology,  the  intense  and  eager  re- 
searches after  the  truth  of  God,  will  result  in  a  crisis  in  which  all 
of  the  forces  of  Christianity  will  come  into  play  in  order  to  give 
birth  to  a  new  age  of  the  world  in  which  the  discord  of  Christen- 
dom will  die  away,  and  concord  will  live  and  reign  and  express 
its  new  faith  and  new  life  in  a  creed,  a  choral  of  praise  to  the 
triune  God,  in  which  all  the  essential  doctrines  of  Christianity, 
learned  from  all  the  struggles  and  triumphs  of  twenty  centuries, 
will  be  grouped  about  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 

In  this  period  of  transition  there  is  need  of  patience,  charity, 
courage,  sound  judgment,  and  at  the  same  time  passion  for  the 
truth.  There  are  some  who  would  do  away  with  all  creeds.  To 
these  we  reply  that  the  Church  has  had  creeds  from  the  beginning. 
It  must  have  them  to  express  its  faith  and  life  and  unity.  The 
excesses  committed  by  the  modern  Church  in  all  its  branches 
ought  not  to  drive  us  into  opposite  excesses.  Let  us  correct  the 
evil,  remove  the  error,  and  make  no  more  mistakes.  Let  every 
Christian  rally  to  the  position  of  the  Anglican  Church  that  the 
Apostles'  Creed  and  the  Nicene  Creed  are  sufficient. 

There  are  others  who  still  insist  upon  subscription  to  the 
elaborate  creeds  of  the  modern  Church.  I  have  no  difficulty  my- 
self in  subscribing  to  the  Westminster  Confession  in  the  historic 
sense  of  the  terms  of  subscription  as  interpreted  by  the  Adopt- 
ing Act  of  1729,  and  defined  by  the  synod  of  New  York  and 
New  Jersey.  But  I  have  difficulty  in  uniting  with  others  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  exacting  such  subscription  as  a  con- 


378  CHURCH  AND  CREED. 

dition  of  ministerial  service.  And  I  shall  do  all  in  my  power 
to  relieve  tender  consciences  and  to  remove  the  stumbling  blocks 
from  the  way  of  the  troubled  seekers  after  truth.  The  West- 
minster Confession  is  a  system  of  doctrine  of  exceeding  value 
as  the  historic  expression  of  the  theology  of  the  Puritan  divines 
of  the  seventeenth  century ;  but  it  contains  a  large  amount  of 
doctrine  that  is  rejected  by  the  vast  majority  of  Protestant  min- 
isters, and  much  of  it  is  not  essential  or  even  of  very  great  impor- 
tance. Presbyterians  should,  however,  be  patient  and  loving, 
and  in  chivalric  contest  endeavor  to  bring  about  the  revision 
that  is  needed. 

The  aim  of  Christianity  is  to  march  forward  toward  the  full 
realization  of  the  Christian  ideal.  We  should  use  our  utmost 
endeavor  to  construct  a  new  consensus  creed  that  will  better  ex- 
press Christian  faith  than  the  old  creeds.  The  Alliance  of  Pres- 
byterian churches  is  approaching  this  problem  with  some  degree 
of  hopefulness  of  ultimate  success.  When  each  of  the  great 
alliances  of  Christian  denominations  has  reduced  its  symbols  to 
consensus  creeds,  it  will  be  easier  to  frame  a  consensus  creed  in 
which  all  may  unite.  It  is  evident  that  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury will  have  great  problems  to  solve  in  the  relation  of  Church 
and  creed,  and  thoughtful  men  in  all  denominations  are  preparing 
for  the  crisis.  ^/ 

C.  A.  Bkiggs. 


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